Microsoft-Skype $8.5B blockbuster.Microsoft's bold buyout of the voice and video IP company is seen by analysts as an aggressive move to challenge Google, Facebook and others for the hearts, minds and wallets of online users. Some industry watchers say Microsoft actually had technology in its portfolio to compete with Skype on many fronts, but that buying the company gives Microsoft lots of customers fast. The combination of the Skype buyout and advances on the Windows Phone 7 front also gives Microsoft its strongest mobile offerings to date.

OpenFlow grabs Interop spotlight. The big Interop 2011 show could almost have been called the OpenFlow show given that it served as one of the first significant exhibitions of OpenFlow switches and controllers, including those shown off in a lab at the event. The software-defined networking technology is designed to enable users to define flows and determine what paths those flows take through a network, regardless of the underlying hardware. OpenFlow stems from an open source project borne of a six-year research collaboration between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Google gets into OS game. Google launched Chrome OS, its browser-turned-operating system, and alternative to Windows, Mac OS and Linux (through Chrome OS technically sits on a stripped-down version of Linux. By putting most of a user's apps and data on the Web with some offline capabilities, Chrome OS presents a "stateless" model that the company believes will make it easier to use and manage computers. The first Chromebook debuted in June, from Acer.

Smartphones are watching you. Apple, Google and Microsoft were all answering questions after it was made widely public that some smartphones have software that enables vendors to track users' locations. This media storm started with revelations about iPhones and iPads store data about users' whereabouts, prompting Apple CEO Steve Jobs to assure at least one customer the issue was being misunderstood and blown out of proportion and prompting Apple to explain that it merely tracks WiFi hotspot and cell tower locations so that it can access that information when it's requested. Meanwhile, two users filed a lawsuit claiming Apple's actions violated federal privacy law, and naturally lawmakers got into the act as well. Google and Microsoft didn't escape scrutiny either.